The McKinney Fire near the Oregon-California border grew over 80 square miles on Saturday, forcing the evacuation of more than 2,000 residents from the Yreka hamlet. The 51,468-acre blaze, the largest in California’s still-early wildfire season, was 0% contained as of early Sunday morning, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. Klamath River State Highway 96 was closed, and numerous other small rural settlements were evacuated as a precaution.

The Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office announced just before 7 p.m. Sunday that the blaze was still 0% contained, but no further evacuations had been required. It wasn’t clear if the acreage total had been revised. According to a map of the fire’s perimeter released on Facebook by the Yreka Police Department early Sunday morning, it was still at least 512 miles away from Yreka.

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In their 8 a.m. update, the fire’s incident commanders wrote that “little progress was detected on the fire’s edge closest to Yreka City.” On Sunday afternoon, a fire-mapping plane flew over the perimeter and continued to show negligible spread into Yreka, the county seat and home to 7,807 residents. Nearly 2,000 residents of Yreka, California, were evacuated on Saturday night, including Larry and Nancy Castle. Every house in the area had a red flag tied to its mailbox by officials who checked it to ensure the occupants had left.

With the help of a trailer full of valued items, Larry Castle and his wife Nancy drove to Mount Shasta to spend the night at their daughter’s house, where they spent the night with three dogs.  As far as he was concerned, the recent brush and tree clearing initiatives foresters had carried out on the mountaintop above Yreka were not going to save the town. Thousands of houses were destroyed, and scores of people were killed in the Paradise and Santa Rosa disasters in 2017 and 2018, respectively. “You realize this stuff is severe,” he said.

Fire Creates Lightning And Winds

The fire’s large smoke plume influenced the weather, resulting in storms with lightning. According to the Klamath National Forest’s officials, several more small fires were started by lightning, one of which started west of Fort Jones. A Red Flag Warning remains in effect for dry lightning and high outflow winds associated with thunderstorms, according to a report issued at 8 a.m. today. “Firefighters may be at risk due to the unpredictable and mighty gusts that can cause fire to spread in any direction.”

After the blaze broke out at 2:38 pm Friday, investigators are still trying to figure out what sparked the fire along Highway 96 and McKinney Creek Road southwest of the Klamath River. No official count of the number of structures destroyed has been released. Still, the Klamath River community of 190 inhabitants, located roughly 20 miles west of Yreka, has been ravaged by the wildfires, according to maps. At least a dozen houses were destroyed by the blaze, which also forced animals to flee.

Homes and a community center were destroyed in the Klamath River, and charred vehicles were seen on Highway 96 in Grants Pass. Officials said they worked through the night to keep structures and residences in the Klamath River area from catching fire. Seiad Valley, Scott Bar, and Horse Creek are also in the process of being evacuated, as are several other small towns. In Weed, California, on Sunday, Stephanie Bossen of Klamath River and her pet dog Biggie were looking for a place to stay.

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Because she was in Yreka at the time of the fire, she had no idea if her house had been destroyed. She confessed that the recent temperature spike to the high 100s had worried her. She added, “I thought that was going to be horrible because of all the dry heat, plus it’s been such a drought around here recently.”. “Somewhere horrible was going to happen. All I wanted was for it to be farther away from my residence.

Hikers And Pets Were Evacuated.

Due to its proximity to the blaze and the need for additional time for this group of homeowners to safely leave, Yreka police evacuated a mobile home park known as Oakridge Mobile Estates on Saturday afternoon. The Weed Community Center, located at 161 E. Lincoln Ave., had been designated as an evacuation center and used by authorities to transfer citizens out of the affected area.

On Saturday night, 22 individuals used the shelter, according to a representative for the American Red Cross chapter in charge of running it, Stephen Walsh. According to a spokesman for Fairchild Medical Center, the central hospital in Siskiyou County, patients were sent to other hospitals out of “an abundance of caution” as far away as Sacramento. Even though an evacuation alert has been issued for a portion of Yreka, the hospital was open on Sunday.

The Siskiyou County website also provides updated information about animal sheltering and viewing animals that have been lost in the evacuation zones and a list of animals that have been lost or found. More than 130 animals, mainly dogs, have been surrendered to the Rescue Ranch in Yreka in the last 48 hours by evacuees who can’t keep their pets at emergency shelters or motels. Ranch spokeswoman said on Sunday. She said, “They’re still coming in.” One of them was a puppy a reporter found outside a burning house in the evacuated area.

On Sunday afternoon, Golay said the dog’s owner, who’d just lost his house, was reunited with his pet. Patches are the pup’s name. Even so, there isn’t an altogether joyful conclusion. There were three other dogs that Patch’s owner had to leave behind during the evacuation, and he concerns for their safety. For the sake of the dogs, a Facebook campaign was launched to solicit stainless steel pails, dog food, and other supplies. Hikers on the Pacific Crest Trail in Oregon and California have been rescued by search and rescue teams.

NOT FOR BROADCAST: Putting this out for the owner. Small pup, estimated to be 4 months was found roaming within the fire zone. The pup was brought back to the town of Yreka and surrendered to the Rescue Ranch Inc as suggested by fire officials. #McKinneyFire pic.twitter.com/BOnKYFu6Sc

— AIO Filmz (@aiofilmz) July 30, 2022

More than 110 kilometers of the 2,650-mile popular hiking trail traverse the evacuated area. As many as 60 hikers were transferred by public bus from the Red Buttes Wilderness side of California on Saturday afternoon, according to the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office. The McKinney Fire is the most destructive this year, consuming nearly as much land as the California wildfires did before they started in 2022. Governor Gavin Newsom placed Siskiyou County in a state of emergency on Saturday.

When the McKinney wildfire consumes a mountainside above her home in the Klamath National Forest, California, on July 30, 2022, Angela Crawford is there to see it. Crawford and her husband stayed behind to protect their home from the blaze as other residents fled.

Trees in the Klamath National Forest, Calif., are consumed by the McKinney Fire’s flames on Saturday, July 30.

Residents and vehicles in the Klamath River town were evacuated as the McKinney Fire continued to rage across Klamath National Forest on Saturday.

As the McKinney Fire rages above her Klamath National Forest home on Saturday, Angela Crawford leans against a fence.

This image taken on Saturday, July 30, 2022, shows the Klamath River Community Hall damaged by the McKinney Fire. Grants Pass Daily Courier via AP) (Scott Stoddard/Grants Pass Daily Courier)

McKinney Fire in Siskiyou County can be seen burning early Saturday, July 30, 2022, from the Antelope Mountain Yreka 1 observation camera in Antelope Mountain.

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